| abstract
| - Look, I’m not a bounty hunter. Technically I am but I’m not. I don’t have any skills pertaining to it. I don’t know how to find people, I don’t know how to study a target and I don’t know when to strike. It all boils down to this: I’m a disappointment. Being a former soldier in the Galactic Alliance, you’d think I would know everything there is to know about battle. I mean, look at Dragon Company, they’re all ex-soldiers and now their holding the Hutts by the throat as criminals. That’s not me. People need to understand that terms like ‘soldier’ and ‘Echani’ are just terms- well at least when it’s being used to describe me. Yes, I was a soldier but I didn’t do anything other than guard people or vessels and most of the time nothing happened and when something did happen, I was too busy being held at gunpoint or being tied up to do anything about it. When it comes to my Echani heritage, I didn’t grow up training. I’m not even a full Echani because my mom was from Coruscant and I lived with her all my life. “You. You the Echani?” the Trandoshan asked in his native language I raised my brow which caught the attention of the green Twi’lek girl next to him “Yeah I think it’s him” she said to her partner while giving me a quick examination with her eyes “Sorry” shaking her head “My name is Yula and this Claw” Her youth caught me off guard. Not only did I have to embark on my first mission without Tag or Eusil, but I had to team up with a teenager and a lizard that looks like he wants to kill me? Great. “You must be Nash. I can just tell by the white hair” she smiled at me as if to indicate that everything was going to be alright. It didn’t work “Yeah” I chuckled nervously “Don’t let my background fool you. I might actually do more harm than good” “That’s alright” she said brightly “If you mess up, we’ll just use you as a distraction while we escape” “Yay?” I furrowed my brow “Enough talk” I still couldn’t understand the Trandoshan- err- Claw “You’re right” her face turned serious “Listen up, here’s what’s going to go down tonight” I was a little taken aback about how quickly she turned from a giggly teenager to a serious professional. “We’re going to meet up with some Weequay and we’re going to sell them some death sticks. You’re job is to make sure the credits they’re handing over aren’t phony. Once you confirm that, then it’ll be business as usual and everyone will go away happy” “Wait” I said, confused “Is that it? Is that all I have to do? D-don’t get me wrong- I mean I’m happy that I don’t have to pick up a weapon but… that just seems too easy and even fruitless” She shook her head “You obviously haven’t heard about the fake credits going around haven’t you?” this time I shook my head and she continued “For a standard month now people have been giving out fake credits and because credit chips aren’t popular in this side of Nar Shaddaa, it becomes a problem” “I still don’t understand” I admitted, adamant to say so since I didn’t want to anger her or… Claw “I’ll try to make it simple” she said putting her hands on her hips “When fake credits go around no one realizes until it’s too late meaning, everyone in the market is getting fake credits mixed in with real credits which makes it near impossible to sort the real from the fake and it can also make any market collapse. It’s just a big headache” she shook her head as if she herself had one just by trying to explain it to me “Claw and I are not interested in selling our death sticks if it means that we’re getting unusable credits out of it” I nodded while stroking my chin. Everything made sense now and I finally understood why Holbrun, the leader of Dragon Company and my employer wanted me to take this mission. During my time as a soldier I had a mission where my sole purpose was to identify counterfeits. This skill fit perfectly for this situation. “If they’re fake…” she started “I know. They’ll want to start a fight with us thinking that were accusing them of something they didn’t do. What sucks is that they probably didn’t do anything and they themselves are just victims of this whole fake credit thing going around” “I’m glad you understand” “Here they come” Claw growled I turned my head and saw a group that consisted of four Weequay and a Duros with a scar over his eye who stood behind them like he didn’t want to be seen. They looked intimidating so I took a few steps back. Fortunately they paid no attention to me. They went straight to Yula. The leader, who stood only a half a meter shorter than Claw went up to them. “Do you have it?” he spoke in his language “I want to see the credits first” “Doesn’t work that way” I gulped. I didn’t like where this was going. “Fat chance! How do I know if you’re credits aren’t fake?” Yula stood her ground “You can’t” he told her “Now are you going to give us the death sticks or is there going to be a problem?” I decided to intervene despite my instincts telling me otherwise “Hey there’s no need for this!” I said putting a friendly façade “Look if we can just-” Before I could finish the Weequay shoved me against the wall so hard that I fell all the air come out of lungs. Apparently Claw took this as a sign of disrespect directed towards him and he stabbed the leader square in the stomach. Yula drew her blaster and managed to shoot two of the Weequay before they could react. I saw the Duros flee the scene while the last remaining Weequay lifted his rifle. However, Claw, who ran towards him, managed to both dodge his shot and stab him in the chest. “Are you alright Nash?” Yula knelt down to check on me I coughed but nodded “Well so much for that. I guess we’re not going to be selling anything for awhile” she said, disappointed “Well…” I reached in my pocket for some credits “How much is it for one death stick? I have a girl back at my place who loves this stuff” Yula giggled “How do I know if you’re not giving me fake credits, though?” “Good point”
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